An Austrian who was kidnapped in Yemen has made a video appeal to concerned governments to pay ransom in order to prevent his death, Austrian media reported Saturday.
With a rifle pointed to his head, Dominik Neubauer appealed to the governments of Austria, Yemen and the European Union to pay ransom to the tribe that abducted him, DPA reported.
"Otherwise they will kill me seven days after this video is published" he said, tears streaming down his face. He added that he was in good health.
"From our point of view this video is authentic," Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss told dpa.
Weiss said that it was the first they had seen of the young Arab language student since he was abducted in December along with a Finnish couple in the capital Sana'a.
The short video, which was posted Thursday on YouTube, does not show or mention the Finnish man and woman.
"Finland has not received the same kind of video that Austria has, unfortunately," Finnish Foreign Ministry spokesman Jouni Molsa told dpa.
Weiss said a government crisis team was working on the case, but he added that the demand appeared unclear, as the name of the tribe was not mentioned in the message.
His Finnish counterpart said his ministry does not comment on possible ransom demands.